To me, beauty is looks you can never forget. A face should jolt, not soothe.

I make independent movies. I don't know how to do anything else. I don't know any other job that I could really get.

I used to joke that I was trying to sell out, and nobody would buy me.

I'm a film director. Gay is an adjective that I certainly am, but I don't know that it's my first one. I think if you're just a gay filmmaker, you get pigeonholed just like if you say I'm a black filmmaker, I'm a Spanish filmmaker, I'm a whatever.

Sometimes I wish I was a woman, just so I could have an abortion.

The "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" hitchhiker really made people never want to hitchhike again - the hitcher, the show. Hitchhiking is always vaguely sexual.

I built my [early] career on negative reviews. There was a cultural war going on, the '60s was going on. All the film critics were square. They hated my movies. You could never have that happen today. Critics are way too hip.